JPH07104744A - Automatic playing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily generate and correct music data by displaying plural display elements corresponding to plural automatic musical performance patterns, and connecting them on a screen and specifying the order of musical performances. CONSTITUTION:A ROM 6 stores a program which is executed by a CPU 5. The ROM 6 stores automatic musical performance pattern (style) data by styles of music. Thus, the automatic musical performance patterns are stored and the display elements corresponding to those automatic musical performance patterns are prepared respectively. And, those display elements are displayed on a display device and connected by lines, so that order of the automatic musical performance patterns is determined corresponding to the order of the connections. In an automatic musical performance, the pattern data are read out in the order specified with pattern sequence data and sent out to an external sound source 10 through a MIDI interface 4, and the pattern data are automatically played in the specified order.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic musical instrument, and more particularly, to an automatic musical instrument which can easily create and modify musical piece data when combining musical piece data by combining automatic musical performance pattern data. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an automatic performance apparatus which stores a plurality of automatic performance pattern (style) data in advance and designates the performance order to create music data.

For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-234090 discloses that
Using the pattern data prepared in advance, the first measure is the pattern of A, the second is as the song progresses.
Measure C pattern, measure 3 ...
An electronic musical instrument is disclosed in which numbers and names representing automatic performance pattern data are registered to create music data.

[0004]

However, in such a music data creating method, the first measure is the pattern A, the second measure is the pattern C, and the third measure is ...
It is necessary to consider the order of playing the pattern data and input the data one by one in that order. Therefore, the input work is not efficient. In addition, since data input is usually specified by a number using the ± key or the numeric keypad, the input work is complicated.

Further, since the bar numbers (numbers indicating the number of bars) and the patterns are input in the bar order so that they correspond to each other, correction work (pattern data is added or deleted in the middle) There is a problem that it is very troublesome to do or move).

In view of the above-mentioned problems in the conventional example, the present invention makes it possible to easily create and modify song data in an automatic playing device that creates song data by combining automatic playing pattern data. The purpose is to

[0007]

To achieve this object, an automatic performance device according to the present invention comprises a storage means for storing a plurality of automatic performance patterns, a display means for displaying various information, and An element display control means for displaying a plurality of display elements respectively corresponding to the plurality of automatic performance patterns on the display means, and two display elements to be connected among the plurality of display elements displayed on the display means. Specifying means, a connecting means for displaying a connection between two specified display elements, and an automatic performance corresponding to the connected display element based on the display element displayed on the display means and the state of the connection. The present invention is characterized by comprising a determining means for determining a performance order of the pattern data and a performance means for automatically performing the automatic performance pattern data in the determined performance order.

Further, it is possible to provide a means for rearranging the display elements, which are arbitrarily connected, in the performance order.

[0009]

By displaying a plurality of display elements respectively corresponding to a plurality of automatic performance patterns and connecting the lines on the screen, the order of automatic performance can be specified.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block configuration of an automatic performance device according to an embodiment of the present invention. This automatic performance device has a keyboard 1, a mouse 2, a display 3 and a MIDI (Mu
sical instrument digital interface) interface 4, central processing unit (CPU) 5, read only memory (ROM) 6, random access memory (RAM)
7, and floppy disk input / output device (FDD) 8
Is equipped with. These respective parts are connected to each other by a bus line 9.

The keyboard 1 is an input device for inputting various information to the device of this embodiment. Mouse 2
It is an input device used as a pointing device.
The display 3 displays screens as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 described later. The MIDI interface 4 has
The external sound source 10 is connected. The CPU 5 controls the operation of the entire automatic performance device. Details of the operation will be described later with reference to FIGS.

A program executed by the CPU 5 is stored in the ROM 6. The ROM 6 also stores automatic performance pattern (style) data for each music style. One style of automatic accompaniment pattern data consists of pattern data of six sections. 6
The pattern data of one section is intro pattern data, normal pattern data, variation pattern data, first fill-in pattern data, second fill-in pattern data, and ending pattern data.

The pattern data of each section is 1 to 8
It is the pattern data of a bar. RAM5 has CPU5
Is provided with a working area.

Hereinafter, when simply referred to as pattern data,
It refers to one pattern data in which the style and section are specified.

By operating the keyboard 1 and the mouse 2 while referring to the display on the display 3, the user can create the pattern sequence data by a simple operation on the graphical display screen. The pattern sequence data is music data of a music to be automatically played, and more specifically, data that specifies the order of pattern data from the beginning to the end of the music.

The pattern sequence data is created on the RAM 7. The created pattern sequence data is
It can be saved on a floppy disk by FDD8.

FIG. 2A shows an example of pattern sequence data. One piece of data is formed by sequentially arranging a set of data designating a style and a section. One set of pattern data is designated by a set of data designating a style and a section. At the time of automatic performance, the pattern data (the automatic performance pattern of the relevant section of the relevant style) is read in the order designated by the pattern sequence data, and is sent to the external sound source 10 via the MIDI interface 4. As a result, the pattern data is automatically played in the designated order.

Conceptually, the pattern sequence data can be written as shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C. Figure 2
In FIG. 2B and FIG. 2C, the blocks indicated by A, B, and C correspond to the set data designating the style and section in FIG. Since one pattern is designated by one set of data, the blocks indicated by A, B, and C may be considered to indicate pattern data, respectively. Arrows are connection lines indicating the order of automatic performance of pattern data. For example, in the pattern sequence data of FIG. 2B, pattern A, pattern B, and pattern C are automatically played in this order.

As described above, each pattern data is prepared in the ROM 6 in advance for each style and each section of each style, but in addition, the pattern data on the floppy disk can be designated. It is like this.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a screen displayed on the display 3 when the user creates and edits the pattern sequence data in the apparatus of this embodiment. In this figure, 30
1 is a song maker window, 302 is a tool palette, 303 is a control bar, and 304 is an information window.

The song maker window 301 has a title bar 310. The title bar 310 has a pattern sequence data (song data) currently being created.
Is displayed like a number 311. At the left end of the title bar 310, the song maker window 301
There is provided a close box 312 used when closing the.

The song maker window 301 has a style palette 313. Style palette 313
In, a style icon for designating various styles is displayed. The style palette 313 is composed of a plurality of pages having tabs such as “Favorite” and “Dance” at the top. Specifically, there are 10 pages from "Favorite" to "Disk".

The "Favorite" page includes style icons of styles arbitrarily selected by the user. The "Disk" page contains style icons for styles stored on floppy disks. Other pages are ROM6
Contains style icons for the styles stored in.

In FIG. 3, tab 3 labeled "Rock1"
14 pages are displayed. On this "Rock1" page, style icons 316, 317, 318, etc. for designating 20 types of lock styles are arranged. Characters A, B, C, ..., T that identify a style are attached to each style icon. In addition,
Instead of letters such as A, B, C, ..., T, a pattern that graphically represents the style may be attached to each style icon.

The page can be changed by clicking the tab portion with the mouse 2. For example, if the "Rock1" page in Figure 3 is displayed, select "Jaz
If you click on the tab 315 labeled "z", you will see "Jaz
The "z" page is displayed. On the "Jazz" page, icons for designating 20 kinds of jazz styles are arranged.

To the right of the 20 icons on each page,
A section selection area 319 for selecting a section of each style is provided. The section is "Intr
o "Normal""Vari""Fill1""Fill2""End in
There are 6 types of "g". "Intro" is an intro pattern, "Normal" is a normal pattern, "Vari" is a variation pattern, "Fill1" is the first fill-in pattern, "Fill2" is the second fill-in pattern, and "En".
“Ding” indicates the ending pattern, respectively.

On the left side of the display of each section name, a circular select button is arranged. To select a section, click this select button with mouse 2. The select buttons of the unselected sections are displayed as white circles, and the select buttons of the selected sections are black circles. In FIG. 3, the normal pattern is selected.

A sequence display 323 is provided below the style palette 313. The sequence display 323 is an area for creating and editing pattern sequence data. Scroll bars 3 are provided on the right side and the lower side of the area of the sequence display 323.
24, 325 are provided.

The user uses the mouse 2 to move the style palette 3
Display 13 desired pages, and select section 3
A desired one can be selected from the six sections of 19 and a desired style icon can be dragged with the mouse 2 and pasted on the sequence display 323. Similarly, after some style icons are pasted on the sequence display 323, editing is performed using each tool of the tool palette 302 described below to obtain desired pattern sequence data.

The tool palette 302 is a window with a title bar 331 having a close box. By dragging the portion of the title bar 331 with the mouse 2, the tool palette 302 can be moved on the screen.

The tool palette 302 has four tools for editing the style icon pasted on the sequence display 323. An arrow (arrow) pointer 332, a speaker pointer 333, a pen pointer 334, and an eraser pointer 335. When one of these tools is selected with the mouse 2, the mouse pointer becomes the shape of the pointer of each tool on the sequence display 323.

In FIG. 3, since the arrow pointer 332 is selected as the tool, the mouse pointer 370 has the shape of the arrow pointer. Tool palette 30
In 2, the currently selected tool is highlighted.

By clicking on the style icon pasted on the sequence display 323 using the arrow pointer 332, the style icon is selected. If this operation is performed while pressing the shift key of the keyboard 1, a plurality of style icons can be intermittently brought into the selected state. Also, a plurality of style icons can be selected by specifying the range. The style icon in the selected state can be moved by dragging it on the sequence display 323.

When the style icon pasted on the sequence display 323 is clicked using the speaker pointer 333, the automatic performance data of the style (and section) is output from the MIDI interface 4 and sounded by the external sound source 10. It
That is, a trial listening can be performed.

By using the pen pointer 334 and dragging from the first style icon pasted on the sequence display 323 to the second style icon, a connection is made from the first style to the second style. Be done. The connection of the first style to the second style means that the order of automatically playing the second style after the first style is designated.

By using the eraser pointer 335 to click a style icon pasted on the sequence display 323, the style icon can be deleted from the sequence display 323. When the style icon is deleted, the related wiring is also deleted if necessary. Alternatively, the erased icon may be skipped and the preceding and following icons may be connected.

Each tool of the tool palette 302 described above is used for an editing operation on the sequence display 323. Therefore, it is the mouse pointer 370 that takes the shape of these tools.
Only when 0 is on the sequence display 323. When the mouse pointer 370 is off the sequence display 323, the mouse pointer 37
The shape of 0 basically becomes the shape of the default pointer. The default pointer has the same arrow shape as the arrow pointer. Therefore, the style palette 31
The mouse pointer 370 has the same shape as the arrow pointer when selecting the page No. 3, the section, and the dragging of style icons (316, 317, 318, etc.) to the sequence display 323.

The style icon on the style palette 313 and the style icon pasted on the sequence display 323 basically have a size of 32 × 32 dots on the screen. Then, when the mouse pointer is positioned within the 16 × 16 dot range in the center of the icon, the mouse pointer is forced to have the shape of the speaker (same as the speaker pointer 333 of the tool palette 302). In that state, when clicked, the pattern data of the relevant section (the currently selected section) of the relevant style can be heard by trial.

In FIG. 3, the sequence display 323 is shown.
The figure shows a state in which style icons 362 and 363 are pasted on top of which they are editing. Numbered 364, 365
Is a connection line connecting style icons set using the pen pointer 334. Reference numeral 361 is a symbol indicating the beginning of a song.

The pattern sequence created and edited on the sequence display 323 is reflected in the pattern sequence data on the RAM 7. That is, the pattern sequence data corresponding to the pattern sequence on the sequence display 323 is R in the format of FIG.
It will be generated on AM7. For example, in FIG.
The pattern sequence is created in the order of the pattern B → B → I → B → K → G, but the pattern sequence data corresponding to this is generated in the RAM 7.

On the sequence display 323, a plurality of series of pattern sequence data can be created and edited. Although there is a single style icon 363 in FIG. 3, this is also a series of one pattern sequence data. Of course, pattern sequence data is set on the RAM 7 in correspondence with each of a plurality of streams. Then, each series can be connected by connecting a plurality of series.

The control bar 303 is a window for controlling the performance of the created and edited pattern sequence data. A title bar 341 having a close box is provided on the upper part thereof. Three
42 is a play button and 343 is a pause button.

When the play button 342 is clicked with the mouse 2, the pattern sequence data designated sequentially from the beginning symbol 361 of the music is reproduced (automatic performance). What is playback?
This is a process of transmitting the pattern data to the external sound source 10 via the MIDI interface 4. Pause button 3
When 43 is clicked with the mouse 2, the reproduction can be paused. Click the pause button 343 again to mouse 2
Click to restart playback.

Various function buttons are provided on the left side of the tool palette 313. 320 is an alignment button. When the align button 320 is clicked with the mouse 2, the pattern sequences currently displayed on the sequence display 323 are aligned in a row and redisplayed.

FIG. 4 shows the sequence display 3 of FIG.
23 shows a state in which 23 pattern sequences are aligned and redisplayed. Style icons connected by wires are arranged in a line for each series.

Reference numeral 321 is a view button. When the view button 321 is clicked with the mouse 2, the style icon pasted on the sequence display 323 is 3
The size is switched from 2 × 32 dots to 16 × 16 dots. As a result, the amount of information displayed on the sequence display 323 increases and the entire pattern sequence data can be easily grasped. When the view button 321 is clicked again with the mouse 2, the style icon returns from 16 × 6 dots to 32 × 32 dots.

The function of clicking the mouse 2 in a range of 16 × 16 dots in the central portion of the style icon having a size of 32 × 32 dots to test-listen to the pattern data has already been described. When the size of the icon is set to 16 × 6 dots by using the test listening function, the trial listening function is suppressed. That is, 16 × 6
Placing the mouse pointer over the dot-sized style icon does not force it into the speaker shape.

Reference numeral 322 is an undo button. By clicking the undo button 322 with the mouse 2, the operation performed immediately before can be canceled and the operation can be restored. When the undo button 322 is clicked with the mouse 2 again, the operation is performed (redo) again.

The information window 304 is
In addition to the close box 351, it has a name setting area 352 for the created music data and a bar number display area 353.

Next, the operation procedure of the CPU 5 of this embodiment for realizing the creation and editing of the pattern sequence data as described above will be described.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the main routine. When the power is turned on and the operation of the apparatus is started, first, in step S1, a predetermined work area or the like is initialized. Next, in step S2, mouse processing is performed,
Other processing is performed in step S3. After step S3, the process returns to step S2 and steps S2 and S3 are repeated.

6 and 7 are detailed flowcharts of the mouse processing in step S2 of FIG. In the mouse processing, first, in step S11, it is determined whether or not the mouse 2 has been clicked. If it is clicked, step S1
2; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S21. Here, the click means that the switch of the mouse 2 is turned on / off at almost the same position on the display.

In step S12, the click position of the mouse 2 is determined. When the click position is the style icon, the process proceeds to step S13, the icon click process is performed, and then the process proceeds to step S21.

When the click position is the alignment button 320 in step S12, the process proceeds to step S14, and it is determined whether or not the pointer shape is an arrow pointer. If it is an arrow pointer, a process of arranging the style icons on the sequence display 323 is performed in step S15, and the process proceeds to step S21. If the pointer shape is not the arrow pointer in step 14, the process directly proceeds to step S21.

If the clicked position is in the tool palette in step S12, the flow advances to step S16 to change the pointer shape to that of the selected tool, and then in step S16.
Proceed to 21.

When the clicked position is the connection in step S12, the process proceeds to step S17, and it is determined whether or not the pointer shape is the eraser. If it is an eraser, the connection specified in step S18 is deleted, and step S1
The pattern sequence data is rewritten in step 9, and step S
Proceed to 21. If the pointer shape is not the eraser in step S17, the process directly proceeds to step S21.

If the click position is other than the above case in step S12, other processing is performed in step S20, and then the process proceeds to step S21. As for other processing,
For example, there is a process of playing / stopping pattern data according to a pattern sequence by clicking a play button or a stop button.

Next, in step S21, it is determined whether or not the mouse 2 has been dragged. If it is dragged, the process proceeds to step S22, and if not, the process proceeds to step S29. Here, dragging means a series of operations in which the switch of the mouse 2 is turned on at a certain position on the display, the pointer is moved to another position in that state, and then the pointer is turned off.

In step S22, the current pointer shape of the mouse 2 is determined. When the pointer shape is the arrow pointer, the process proceeds to step S23, and it is determined whether or not the drag start position is the style icon. If the start position is the style icon, step S24
Then, the style icon is moved and pasted on the sequence display 323. Then, it progresses to step S29. If the dragging start position is not the style icon in step S23, other processes are performed in step S25, and then the process proceeds to step S29.

When the pointer shape of the mouse 2 is the shape of the pen pointer in step S22, step S26
Then, the pen pointer is the sequence display 323.
Determine if you drag between the style icons above. If it is a drag between style icons, a connection (arrow) is connected from the style icon at the start point to the style icon at the end point in step S27. Then, in step S28, the pattern sequence data is rewritten, and the process proceeds to step S29. If the dragging is not between style icons in step S26, the process directly proceeds to step S29.

If the connection to be connected is incorrect in step S27, the connection is not connected and the process of step S28 is skipped.
For example, when there is already a connection from the style A to the style B, even if the pen pointer is dragged from the style A to another style C, it is invalid.

If the pointer shape of the mouse 2 is other than the above in step S22, the process proceeds to step S29.

In step S29, it is determined whether or not the mouse 2 has been moved. Here, the movement means an operation of moving the pointer from one position to another position on the display without pressing the switch of the mouse 2. If the mouse 2 has not been moved, the process directly returns. When the mouse 2 is moved, the mouse pointer 370 is moved in step S30. Then, step S31
Then, it is determined whether or not the mouse pointer 370 is positioned in the center portion (16 × 16 dot range) of the style icon. If it is located in the central portion, step S3
At 2, the mouse pointer 370 is changed to the shape of the speaker pointer, and the process returns.

If the mouse pointer 370 is not located at the center of the style icon in step S31,
In step S33, it is determined whether or not the mouse pointer 370 is located at a position deviated from the center of the style icon. If the mouse pointer 370 is located off the center of the style icon, step S
At 34, the shape of the mouse pointer 370 is returned to the original shape, and the process returns. If the mouse pointer 370 is located at the center of the style icon in step S33, the process directly returns.

FIG. 8 is a detailed flowchart of the icon click processing in step S13 of FIG. In the icon click processing, first, in step S41, the current shape of the mouse pointer 370 is determined. If the shape is an arrow pointer, the style icon at the click position is selected in step S42, and the process returns.

If the current pointer shape is the shape of the speaker pointer in step S41, step S43.
Then, the pattern data corresponding to the style icon at the click position is reproduced (MIDI output via the MIDI interface 4), and the process returns.

If the current pointer shape is the shape of the eraser pointer in step S41, step S44
Then, it is determined whether or not the style icon at the click position is the style icon on the sequence display 323. If the icon is a style icon on the sequence display 323, the icon is deleted in step S45. Then, in step S46, the connection related to the icon is erased, and in step S47, the related sequence data is rewritten and the process returns. Step S
If the current pointer shape is not the shape of the eraser pointer at 44, the process directly returns.

If the current pointer shape is the pen pointer shape in step S41, the process directly returns.

In the above embodiment, the style icon may be edited by cutting, copying, pasting or duplicating the style icon on the sequence display 323. The cut, copy, paste, and copy operations may be those used in a normal window system. For example, it is instructed from an edit menu (not shown) on the display or the keyboard 1. The target may be selected by clicking the mouse 2 or designating an area by dragging.

FIG. 9A shows an example of cutting and pasting style icons. The pattern B is cut in the pattern sequence connected in the order of the patterns A → B → C. After cutting, the pattern becomes A → C. Next, the pattern B is attached to another series by a paste operation.

FIG. 9B shows an example of copying and pasting a style icon. Patterns B and C are connected in the order of patterns A → B → C.
To copy. Since the copy is a copy to another copy area, the pattern is not changed even after the copy. Next, patterns B and C are pasted in different series by a paste operation.

FIG. 9C is a first example of duplication of the style icon. Patterns A, B, which are not connected
Duplicate patterns B and C if C and D are in the sequence display. By this duplication, the patterns B and C are attached to the lower side.

FIG. 9D is a second example of duplication of the style icon. Patterns B and C are duplicated in the pattern sequence that is connected in the order of pattern A → B → C → D. By this duplication, the patterns B and C are inserted between the patterns C and D.

According to the above embodiment, the music data can be created by combining the automatic performance pattern data with a simple operation using a mouse or the like by using the window graphically displayed on the screen.

When changing the connection between the icons,
The connection may be changed by designating the end portion of the connection with a pointer and dragging it to another icon. Further, the display element may not be in the icon format. Any pattern can be used as long as the pattern can be identified.

[0077]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In an automatic performance device that creates music data by combining automatic performance pattern data, music data can be easily created and modified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an automatic performance device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration and an example of pattern sequence data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of a screen when creating and editing pattern sequence data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which pattern sequences are arranged in a line and re-displayed.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a main routine.

FIG. 6 is a detailed flowchart of mouse processing (No. 1).
Figure

FIG. 7: Detailed flowchart of mouse processing (No. 2)
Figure

FIG. 8 is a detailed flowchart of icon click processing.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example in which a style icon is edited by cutting, copying, pasting, or copying.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Keyboard, 2 ... Mouse, 3 ... Display, 4 ...
MIDI interface, 5 ... Central processing unit (CP
U), 6 ... Read only memory (ROM), 7 ... Random access memory (RAM), 8 ... Floppy disk input / output device, 9 ... Bus line.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A storage means for storing a plurality of automatic performance patterns, a display means for displaying various information, and a plurality of display elements corresponding to the plurality of automatic performance patterns on the display means. Element display control means, specifying means for specifying two display elements to be connected among the plurality of display elements displayed on the display means, and connection means for displaying a connection between the two specified display elements Determining means for determining the performance order of the automatic performance pattern data corresponding to the connected display elements based on the display elements displayed on the display means and the connection status; And an automatic performance device for automatically performing automatic performance pattern data. 2. The automatic performance device according to claim 1, further comprising means for rearranging the display elements, which are arbitrarily connected, in a performance order and re-displaying them.